Championing respiratory trainees

Crowdsourcing the best of research, leadership, management and QIP, and medical education

Monday, December 19, 2016

This year saw the launch of our Trainees programme and forum, bringing together the best resources on research, leadership, management and QIP, and medical education

Here, the editors of this dynamic new asset, Alex Wilkinson, Laura-Jane Smith and Charlotte Addy, provide an insight into their motivation and future plans.

The idea

The BTS Specialty Trainee Advisory Group (STAG) exists to represent and support all respiratory trainees and already produces useful documents such as the induction pack. But in a medical world of increasing complexity, with information available on any subject in the click of a mouse, it can be difficult to know where to start to get the most from a training programme.

Of all the sections on the site, we are most excited about the forum - a constantly updating collection of the best educational resources online

We wanted to create a place where trainees could come and find information of relevance to both their day to day practice and continuing professional development. A hub, drawing together all the advice, information and learning resources across the internet, mapped to the respiratory curriculum and fully searchable.

Crowdsourcing training

A constantly updating collection of the best educational resources online, the forum is inspired, refined and renewed by a community of enthusiastic respiratory trainees. Our site editors have scoured the web, delved deep into journals, and mined the memories of their peers to share all the best resources to help support Respiratory training.

We hope to involve more trainees in the next year, opening up the forum so that anyone can post their ideas. We know that there are great learning aids, invaluable textbooks, not-to-be-missed review articles, and high value tweeters that are currently missing from our forum and want to harness the collective knowledge of our members to fill the gaps.

The project so far

Over the last 12 months a small but enthusiastic team of trainees, supported by Respiratory Futures, have built the trainees mini-site. It was formally launched at the BTS Summer Meeting, and was promoted via the @resptrainees Twitter feed during the Winter Meeting. Have a look at the 12 days of #Respmas for 12 days of educational links themed around the festive song.

The section on the SCE has been popular, providing advice on how to revise and link to practical information and preparation material. The sub-specialty spotlight hosts a growing number of documents on areas such as CF, Integrated care, lung transplantation, occupational lung disease and pulmonary hypertension. These succinct documents are written by those in the know, and inform trainees about how care is structured, where specialist centres are located, what skills are needed for the role, and how trainees should approach acquiring a Consultant post.

Future plans

Respiratory careers and roles are increasingly diverse, and the paths to interesting roles are not always clear. In 2017 we will be recording a series of Career Spotlight podcasts with Consultants across the country to explore their career journeys so far. We’ll be interviewing those in tertiary centres, in DGHs large and small, and those working in the community. We’ll be talking to those at the cutting edge of research, those at the helm of Respiratory training, and those with roles at the BTS, the RCP and other national bodies.

Respiratory careers and roles are increasingly diverse, and the paths to interesting roles are not always clear.

We’ll be discovering different working patterns, and getting to the bottom of the essential skills, and key motivating factors for those in our speciality. If you know someone with an interesting role or career trajectory please get in touch to recommend them for a Career Spotlight feature.

We hope that the platform will not only encourage and inspire Respiratory health professionals, but also facilitate better communication amongst trainees across the UK, sharing ideas for QIP, innovative practice and effective educational interventions. We can’t wait to get started!

Contact details:

Please get in touch with Laura-Jane Smith at laura-jane.smith@nhs.net with questions about, or suggestions for, the Trainees' programme page and forum, or via the main Respiratory Futures contact form.